I’ve been using a lot of pedals with my modular lately, something I’d not done a whole lot of in previous months. Sometimes it's just laziness—finding the correct power adapter in a pile, the in/out cabling aspect, etc., but ever since we put out the Waveform Cat Powr module to power pedals and devices, it's been a little bit quicker and easier to get things up and running. Now with DPW’s P1, their dual-channel Euro to pedal in/out module, my excuses have been running out, so I'll to have to find more creative ways to be lazy, which I’m sure I will.
Joking aside, interfacing pedals with modular isn’t necessarily cumbersome, but it can be a bit messy and annoying, and even though it seems like it should be pretty straightforward—patch in, patch out, etc.—sometimes levels can be hard to match up correctly, and having yet another set of mismatch cables—3.5mm to ¼” (or vice versa)—or adapters can be an obstacle to fast, and productive music-making. DPW will have none of that, with P1 supplying two identical channels of interfacing, each with 3.5mm connections for your Eurorack rig and ¼” jacks for easy pedal connections. There’s nothing fancy going on here, nothing to figure out, nothing to control here. P1 does it all for you; it's 100% patch and play. Usable as two single mono channels or for a stereo configuration, P1 gives you 100kHz of bandwidth in both directions (to and fro!) and attenuates your modular signal going into your pedal by 18dB so as not to override the input of whatever pedal/device you’re going into. Conversely, what P1 taketh away, it giveth back by amplifying the signal coming out of your pedal with the same 18dBs that were taken away at the input. Could it be any easier? No, it could not. Patch modular signal into P1. Patch P1 into pedal input. Patch pedal output back into P1. Patch P1 into modular. Sprinkle salt to taste and enjoy!
P1 is AC coupled, which isolates your modular from your pedals, so there are no power struggles between the two platforms, and it also limits your input signal, supplying some soft clipping if you’re maxing out the input (anything over -4dB) to keep levels and sounds friendly. Exceeding this threshold can push the onboard limiter to get some saturation on your signal, and using P1 as a sort of fixed soft-knee compressor is a pretty nice way to even out fluctuating input levels or squash more extreme sounds. Even though P1 attenuates your signal by a fixed 18dB, I did use a passive attenuator before I patched into it so I could further sculpt the tone, deciding on whether or not I wanted to push the input for compression of a hot signal.
I’ve been using P1 non-stop for the past two months, and in that time during my testing I never had any problems with interfacing between any of my pedals and my modular. I also never noticed any compression coming from P1 unless I deliberately cranked the input signal (on either end) going into P1 to crush it, and then the clipping could be heard. I also used P1 as a guitar interface/DI and that worked great as well, maintaining my 12-string thrift store 70s unbranded hollow body guitar’s cherished boxy tone.
With two channels of great sounding, easy to use modular to pedal I/O, no adapters needed, and nothing to be figured out in just 4HP, P1 is just the ticket for getting some pedal action in your rig.

Price: $129

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